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Today in History: October 11

Posted By HistoryNet Staff On 6/12/2006 @ 8:06 pm In | No Comments

Today in History
October 11

1531   The Catholics defeat the Protestants at Kappel during Switzerland's second civil war.
1540   Charles V of Milan puts his son Philip in control.
1727   George II of England crowned.
1795   In graditude for putting down a rebellion in the streets of Paris, France's National Convention appoints Napoleon Bonaparte second in command of the Army of the Interior.
1862   The Confederate Congress in Richmond passes a draft law allowing anyone owning 20 or more slaves to be exempt from military service. This law confirms many southerners opinion that they are in a 'rich man's war and a poor man's fight.'
1877   Outlaw Wild Bill Longley, who killed at least a dozen men, is hanged, but it took two tries; on the first try, the rope slipped and his knees drug the ground.
1899   South African Boers, settler from the Netherlands, declare war on Great Britain.
1906   San Francisco school board orders the segregation of Oriental schoolchildren, inciting Japanese outrage.
1915   Despite international protests, Edith Cavell, an English nurse in Belgium, is executed by Germans for aiding the escape of Allied prisoners.
1942   In the Battle of Cape Esperance, near the Solomon Islands, U.S. cruisers and destroyers decisively defeat a Japanese task force in a night surface encounter.
1945   Negotiations between Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and Communist leader Mao Tse-tung break down. Nationalist and Communist troops are soon engaged in a civil war.
1950   The Federal Communications Commission authorizes the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) to begin commercial color TV broadcasts.
1962   Pope John XXIII opens the 21st Ecumenical Council (Vatican II) with a call for Christian unity. This is the largest gathering of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in history; among delegate-observers are representatives of major Protestant denominations, in itself a sign of sweeping change.
1968   Apollo 7, with three men aboard, is successfully launched from Cape Kennedy.
1972   A French mission in Vietnam is destroyed by a U.S. bombing raid.
1976   The so-called "Gang of Four," Chairman Mao Tse-tung's widow and three associates, are arrested in Peking, setting in motion an extended period of turmoil in the Chinese Communist Party.
1991   Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas begin.

Born on October 11

1820   Sir George Williams, founder of the YMCA.
1844   Henry Heinz, manufacturer, founder of H.J. Heinz Co.
1884   Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt.
1885   Francois Mauriac, Nobel Prize-winning novelist.
1887   Willie Hoppe, billiards champion.
1910   Joseph Alsop, American journalist.
1918   Jerome Robbins, choreographer, won Oscar for West Side Story.
1919   Art Blakey, jazz drummer.

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